How To Install ProFTPD on Ubuntu 15.04

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install ProFTPD on Ubuntu 15.04. For those of you who didn’t know, ProFTPD is a GPL-licensed FTP server that can be installed for free on your Linux system. It’s an alternative to vsftpd. ProFTPD open-source FTP server one most used, secure, and reliable file transfer daemons on Unix environments, due to its file configuration simplicity speed, and easy setup.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple. I will show you the step-by-step installation of ProFTPD in the Ubuntu 15.04 server.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 15.04, and any other Debian-based distribution.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• A non-root sudo useror access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install ProFTPD on Ubuntu 15.04

Step 1. First, make sure that all your system packages are up-to-date by running the following apt-get commands in the terminal.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Step 2. Install ProFTPD and all required packages.

sudo apt-get install proftpd

During the installation, you’ll be prompted to choose the installation method that you want. There are two installation methods, standard daemon, and init daemon methods.

Configure Proftpd

Step 3. Configure ProFTPD.

ProFTPD default configuration file is at /etc/proftpd.conf.

nano /etc/proftpd.conf

Change the ServerName to the hostname of your server. In the case below, ftp.idroot.us is an example:

ServerName “ftp.idroot.us”

Uncomment DefaultRoot:

# Use this to jail all users in their homes
DefaultRoot

Create FTP User

Step 4. Add an FTP User.

Before you create a user for Proftpd, please add /bin/false to your /etc/shells file:

echo "/bin/false" >> /etc/shells

Create a user with a home directory where he will get access to it by FTP. I will disable shell access for this user by assigning the “/bin/false” shell to him to ensure that he can not log in by SSH. My username is named “idroot”, please replace idroot with your username in the next command:

adduser --home /home/idroot --shell /bin/false idroot

Next, configure Proftpd to allow the user idroot to access the FTP server:

cd /etc/proftpd/
nano proftpd.con

Add this config to allow user idroot to login and upload/download file to/from his home directory /home/idroot:

<Directory /home/idroot>
Umask 022 022
AllowOverwrite off
     <Limit LOGIN>
        AllowUser idroot
        DenyALL
     </Limit>
     <Limit ALL>
        Order Allow,Deny
        AllowUser idroot
        Deny ALL
    </Limit>
    <Limit MKD STOR DELE XMKD RNRF RNTO RMD XRMD>
    AllowUser idroot
    Deny ALL
    </Limit>
</Directory>

Run the commands below to restart ProFTPD:

systemctl restart proftpd

Step 5. Access the FTP server.

Once you have installed the FTP server and configured it to your liking, Now all you have to do is open an FTP client and connect to the server using its IP address, hostname, or domain name. If everything is configured correctly, you should be granted access to the server with the correct username and password.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed ProFTPD. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing ProFTPD on ubuntu 15.04 systems. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official ProFTPD website.

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